Regulations on minimum norms and standards for public school infrastructure

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Regulations on minimum norms and standards for public school infrastructure

REGULATIONS ON MINIMUM NORMS AND STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE.

Mr Manuel, the President of the National Professional Teachersâ€™ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA),said in Pretoria today that NAPTOSA wishes to express itsdismay at and deep sense of disappointmentwith the regulations relating to the minimum norms and standards for public school infrastructure.

These regulations are not only vague, there is no substance to them said Mr Manuel. The Department of Basic Education has ignored their own document on norms and standards published in 2008, which provided far more guidance than the current set of regulations. To make matters worse, the Department has also ignored the guideline document published in January 2012, which likewise was more specific.

The two underlying principles in these regulations are progressive implementation, without time frames and the availability of funds, without a dedicated budget. These regulations do not chart a way forward and offer no hope to those schools and communities who for years have had to cope with inadequate school infrastructure, said Mr Manuel.

What is blatant is the absence of a commitment to address the service delivery backlogs in our schools.Lack of service delivery is a ticking time bomb.

The impression that NAPTOSA has, said Mr Manuel, was that the Departmentwrote these regulations to comply with an out of court settlementto declare regulations by 15 January 2013 and thus avoid further litigation. They may have avoided litigation, but they have not done themselves any favours with this toothless document.

Last year, the public witnessed Minister Motshekga and President Zuma launch a programme to replace mud schools in the Eastern Cape. NAPTOSA had hoped that this was the start of a well planned and budgeted programme to address the appalling backlogs that exist in some areas of our country and that these regulations would provide the necessary standards for the provisioning of school infrastructure.